BLOG 280 – How to REDUCE the barriers to change in your business
Your business must change to survive and thrive. But enacting real, lasting and effective change is difficult and to do this successfully you must have the full support of your team.
But here’s what happens when you push for change… your people push back, they resist…
In his brilliant book ‘The Catalyst – How to change anyone’s mind’ Jonah Berger states:
‘People like to feel they have control over their choices and actions. When others threaten or restrict that freedom, people get upset… so, they push back - “Who are you to tell me... I can do whatever I want!”
When you use the 5 PULL strategies for change, you become the catalyst for change in your business, easing your team towards the change you seek by mitigating the roadblocks that stand in your way.
Here are the 5 strategies of PULL for successful change:
1. REACTANCE – When pushed, people push back. So rather than telling your team what they are going to do or persuading them, get them to persuade themselves, stop selling and start giving them choices, ask questions rather than telling them what is going to happen.
2. ENDOWMENT – People resist moving from the status quo. Show your team the cost of doing nothing, the cost of inaction. Maybe highlight the changes a competitor is making or the loss of profits and job security if you don’t embrace a new technology. Dominic Cummings showed his perceived weekly cost of being in the EU - £350 million a week - and even put it on a big red bus so the cost of inaction was there for everyone to see.
3. DISTANCE – Take small steps, shrink the distance. If the change is too big, too overwhelming, then your team will not want to do it. Get some of your more enthusiastic team members on board to encourage the rest of the team to take the first few steps. Your people will be more receptive when you take your big change and break it down into smaller manageable changes.
4. UNCERTAINTY – Doubt and ambiguity slows the rate of change. If your team don’t know what they are doing, then they will not do anything. Show the path for change and they will be less reluctant.
5. CORROBORATING EVIDENCE – Lack of proof reduces willingness to change. Some things need more proof. In his book ‘The Catalyst’ Jonah Berger states ‘If one person tells you, you have a tail you think they are crazy, but if 5 people tell you then you start to believe you actually have a tail’.
What can you do to have multiple sources of evidence show up at the same time for the changes you want your business and team to make?
R.E.D.U.C.E – that’s what great catalysts do. You are the catalyst for change in your business.
Reducing the barriers to change using these 5 strategies will ease your people towards the change you seek.
Click here to learn more about the 5 PULL strategies and how to REDUCE the barriers to change in your business.